Darqueze Dennard (right) and Isaiah Lewis teammed up in a Michigan State secondary that was part of the No. 1 defense in the Big Ten the past three years, and they are now teammates in Cincinnati as the Bengals opened training camp today.Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

EAST LANSING — Former Michigan State consensus All-American cornerback Darqueze Dennard began training camp with the Cincinnati Bengals today with the same mindset he carried with the Spartans.

"What I have to do is be consistent and be the paler I was at Michigan State, and have no drop off,'' Dennard said on Sunday night's "Press Pass" show on Lansing's Fox 47 WYSM. "I'm very excited; I'm living a dream I've had since I was a kid, and I'm able to play a sport and get paid for it.

"So I'll have the same mentality I had at Michigan State. I was that zero-star recruit that no one wanted, and just basically had to earn my respect and do whatever it took to help the team win.''

"There are a lot of great players at my position, and they have all had long careers in the NFL and have success,'' Dennard said. "All the opportunities, small or big, I'm going to take them and love it.''

Dennard, also appearing on The Drive with Jack Ebling radio show on Friday, said he was fortunate to get drafted by a coach like Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis.

"He's a great guy, first and foremost,'' Dennard said. "He's really like a father figure, he cares about his players.

"Coach Lewis takes the time out to ask you how your day is going, and that makes his players play harder for him.''

(Mike Griffith appears on Press Pass at 11 p.m. on Sundays on Fox 47 and is the Friday afternoon co-host on The Drive with Jack Ebling on Lansing's The Game 730 AM)